As will be recognized by those persons regularly involved in the operations that attend the joining and disjoining of towed vehicles from the associated towing vehicle, each operation (both the joining and the disjoining) is fraught with difficulties among which are alignment, both horizontal and lateral, of the hitch components of towed and towing vehicles.
Vehicle towing is commonly practiced by boating persons who move their craft on land using wheeled vehicles; farming persons who move implements, horse and cattle trailers; traveling motorists moving recreational vehicles, and often a second wheeled passenger vehicle.
Whatever is hitched to be towed is at some subsequent time required to be unhitched and, for example, in the case of a towed recreational vehicle (boat, travel trailer, horse and cattle van and the like), the unhitching will likely be required one or more times during a day.
Regular unhitching of the towed vehicles is a routinely required operation when the towing vehicle must perform duties in addition to that of towing.
Accordingly, the following sections will describe briefly some of the required operations that must be performed by a person hitching and unhitching a towed vehicle using the well-known conventional tongue-load, weight-transfer EAZ-LIFT-type hitch that is widely used for light- and medium-weight towed vehicles such as boat, recreational vehicle, animal and vehicle trailers.
Most travel trailer hitch assemblies are designed to distribute the tongue weight of the travel trailer to both the front and rear axles of the tow vehicle. This is accomplished by the use of two spring bars. One end of each bar is attached to the hitch and the other end is attached to the trailer chassis by means of a chain and tension device.
As tension is applied to the chain, some weight of the trailer is applied to the front axle of the tow vehicle. This also keeps the hitch ball tight in the ball socket.
Each time, when hitching or unhitching, it is necessary to install or remove the following hitch parts: the hitch, shank and ball (approximately 50 pounds); two spring bars with chains (approximately 14 pounds each); and two sway controls (approximately 8 pounds each).
The current method to hitch up the towed vehicle to the towing vehicle is to pick up the heavy hitch assembly (approximately 50 pounds) and push the shank of the assembly into the receiver of the tow vehicle, being careful not to get grease on your hands or clothing, making sure to align the holes in the receiver and the shank; install the pin through the hole in the receiver and shank. Next, back up the tow vehicle until the ball of the hitch is directly under the ball socket of the trailer; lower the trailer, using the trailer jack, until the ball enters the socket. Next, activate the latch, locking the ball in the socket. Jack up the trailer to the full height of the trailer jack and then attach the spring bars by lifting one end of each bar and pushing it up into the socket in the hitch assembly. Each bar (with chain) weighs approximately 14 pounds. Lift the chain (attached to the end of the bar) and attach the chain to the hook on the tension device. Using the hook-up handle, flip the handle over top center of the tension device, putting tension into the spring bars. Install sway controls bars (approximately 10 pounds each). Adjust the sway controls bars. Raise the jack and remove the jack stand. To unhitch, it will be necessary to reverse the hitching procedure.